Collboni summoned to an extraordinary session over the Barcelona libraries conflict

Junts, Barcelona en Comú and ERC demand that the municipal government resolve the indefinite strike at the Consorci de Biblioteques. The regulations require Collboni to hold the session within a maximum of fifteen working days.

The municipal groups of Junts per Barcelona, Barcelona en Comú and Esquerra Republicana have submitted a formal request this Thursday for the Barcelona City Council to hold an extraordinary session on the labour conflict at the Consorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona. This initiative comes after months of an indefinite strike and several protests aimed at the mayor, Jaume Collboni.

According to the Municipal Organic Regulations, the local government is obliged to convene the session within a maximum of fifteen working days from the receipt of the request, which has the support of a majority of groups. The signatories argue that the council has not taken any action to unblock the negotiations.

The origin of the conflict lies in the equalisation of working conditions between staff coming from the Diputación de Barcelona and those from the City Council. The workers' committee is demanding improvements in pay and working hours, and maintains the indefinite strike at the consortium's centres.

The groups denounce that the last meeting between the municipal government and the union representatives took place more than three months ago. They also criticise that the consortium and the City Council unilaterally cancelled the meeting scheduled for Monday 28 September, without setting a new date.

"The conflict has been stalled for months," states a statement from Junts per Barcelona.

In the document, the groups also reproach Collboni's executive for a "repressive escalation" against municipal staff. Among the measures cited are sanctions against striking workers, bans on union representatives in sessions and committees, police investigations against members of the workers' committee, and criminal complaints with requests for up to three years in prison affecting library, nursery, and social services employees.

The signatories emphasise that the consortium staff has its own workers' committee and is not represented in the Mesa General del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona. Therefore, they consider it essential for the government to open a direct negotiation channel with those representatives.

The call for the extraordinary session will compel Collboni to provide explanations in the council regarding the management of the conflict. Users of the municipal libraries in Barcelona are already feeling the effects of the strike, with reduced services and centres that have closed on certain days.